Chapter # 8 Paragraph # 4 Study # 12
April 8, 2008
Lincolnton, N.C.
(395)
1769 Translation:
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
1901 ASV Translation:
30 and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
- I. The Steps in the Divine Program.
- A. Establishing the "Purpose" in "Love".
- 1. The "purpose" is the Kingdom of Life.
- 2. This "purpose" is set within a context of counter-purposes (rebellion).
- B. Establishing the "primary methodology": the conformity of each of the participants to the character of the King.
- 1. This conformity includes "Love" and only succeeds in love (everything works unto good for those who love God).
- 2. This conformity includes "Faith" and only progresses by faith (nothing avails anything in Christ except faith that is energized by love: Galatians 5:6).
- C. Developing "sub-methodologies" which include...
- 1. Foreknowledge: deliberate intentional "knowledge" as opposed to simple omniscience. Foreknowledge is presented in the Scriptures as a deliberate personal intimacy that sets a person's participation in God's program without even a "by your leave" from God (Jeremiah, John the Baptizer, Saul of Tarsus, the elect Israel, etc.).
- 2. Predestination: deliberate pursuit of the foreknowledge by means of a particular "setting of boundaries" which permit a certain limited freedom, but do not allow any violation of those boundaries. This predestination is particularly focused upon the "primary methodology": conforming the "many brethren" to the "firstborn".
- 3. Calling: the summons that disallows refusal. Creation exposes men to God under a profound reality: accountability (Romans 1:20). This accountability is heightened by the reality of true "hearing" that ought to lead to the reciprocal "calling" that leads to salvation (Acts 2:21/Romans 10:13 and Romans 10:18) but does not except by the reality of a more personal and potent summons. This more potent summons is the point at which time God circumcises the heart (Romans 2:29) so that there is, by that action, now a reality that did not exist before: the desire to please God (Romans 3:10- 18).
- 4. Justification: the judicial application of the Substitutionary Atonement to the one who has been "circumcised of heart". His prior debt has been paid and he has been recreated after the image of Him Who created him (the "new creation" of 2 Corinthians 5:17/ Galatians 6:15 and the "renewal" of Colossians 3:10).
- 5. Glorification: the historical application of the "justification unto glory" process that was initiated at the summons and culminated at the point of physical death/instantaneous transformation.